Pbase search

[rdavid]

Hello,

Unfortunately search by multiple words doesn't work again. Would you like to fix it?

David

[goislands]

This is what I call "bora bora" syndrom.

We wait for a fix, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. But we are patient. And so we wait some more, and wait, and wait, and we read than 7-8 month later the same request posted by someone else again.

And so we say: "we have asked for this already a few times" and we wait again, and wait, and wait some more, than 2 years later guess what: Someone says "Multi word search does not work."

Now go to line one of this message and keep reading.

[rdavid]

I asked the questions about three times. The strange thing that the search works sometimes. And works well. And I don't lose my hope!

[sheila]

May I suggest to PBase that they get rid of their search engine per se, and substitute a Google based one with PBase+ at the beginning of the search.

Just my two Aussie cents.

Cheers
Sheila

[rdavid]

They say that Google Search doesn't look at keywords. This is the problem. I add keywords to every one of my images.

[matiasasun]

Sheila: That might be good.

BTW; We should really have a user-by-user tag system. We could solve a lot of problems related to content on the site.

HTH
Matias

[sheila]

They say that Google Search doesn't look at keywords. This is the problem. I add keywords to every one of my images.

I gave up using keywords because of this. Judging by my tracker, the way buyers find images is through Google searches and occasionally Yahoo. If you can place as much information in the title and description of each image, Google will eventually find it. Goggle will even pick up words in your "comments". A lot of folk cannot spell the word "aborigine" or tend to use their county's spelling for this word such as "aborigene". This turns up in my comments and if someone puts "aborigene" in the Google search, it will find my images because of the incorrect spelling.

The PBase search engine is inconsistent, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

Cheers
Sheila

[andrys]

I gave up using keywords because of this.

Sheila, statcounter shows many coming from pbase's own search.
I'd continue using them, as those people may comment on your
page and add to the google database that way, not to mention
finding your images.

But you're exactly right that the info ON the page itself
is the most important factor for google searches. I have
sometimes put alternate spellings ini the description box
so that they can be found

The PBase search engine is inconsistent, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

Have truer words ever been spoken? I love the purity of the statement.
Almost like zen/haiku.
It's so frustrating because when it works, it's amazingly effective.

[rdavid]

I use keywords as personal tags. For example, to find all photos of my wife: http://www.pbase.com/search?q=vrabkin&b=Search+Photos&c=sp. The keyword is vrabkin. And so... When it works it is powerful tool.

[goislands]

They say that Google Search doesn't look at keywords. This is the problem. I add keywords to every one of my images.

I gave up using keywords because of this. Judging by my tracker, the way buyers find images is through Google searches and occasionally Yahoo. If you can place as much information in the title and description of each image, Google will eventually find it. Goggle will even pick up words in your "comments".
[...]

My impression that Goggle stopped looking at the keywords at some time, because they nowadays tend to take money from web site owners for being put ahead of others.

You said that google would find words from "comments," do you mean the caption? I am also very curious how do you track "finders" of your images? I never know who is finding how, I just get usually a private message from a publisher.

Thomas

[alangrant]

My impression that Google stopped looking at the keywords at some time, because they nowadays tend to take money from web site owners for being put ahead of others.

I think the issue is that the keywords, as they don't normally appear in the browser, don't necessarily bear any relationship to the contents of the page and could well be misleading (either intentionally or through carelessness). The idea is that the search results should be related to what you will actually read on the page if you click a link. Therefore they choose to prioritise the actual displayed content.

Although Google do charge money for the "sponsored links" listings, I don't think the "contents v keyword" decision is related to that.

You said that google would find words from "comments," do you mean the caption?

I think Sheila was referring to comments left by users on galleries or individual photos - although exactly the same would apply to captions if you use them. Any text that appears when the page is viewed can be indexed by Google, whether the text was created by the photographer (caption) or added by viewers (comments).

[victorwkli]

I use both Pbase and Flickr, and have found the search function on Flickr is much better. Multiple keyword search works very well on Flickr. Perhaps Pbase can learn a few tricks from Flickr.

[janniklindquist]

I use both Pbase and Flickr, and have found the search function on Flickr is much better. Multiple keyword search works very well on Flickr. Perhaps Pbase can learn a few tricks from Flickr.

...and SmugMug! IMO, SmugMug is better than both Flickr and PBase in this regard (as well!)